Sean

Philosophy of Education:

I believe that all students deserve equal educational opportunities depending on the needs of each individual student. As an educator, I should provide each student with their specific learning needs and strategies from the literal learner all the way to the creative learner but not excluding the learner with special needs. Once this is achieved, then I can help facilitate this education through respect for one another, patience, adequate and appropriate materials, willingness to learn and listen to others, trial and error, self-reflection, and persistance.

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My Framework:

I believe that self-reflection, persistance, motivation, and self-esteem are some of the most important pieces of my framework because in order for one to learn as much as possible, they need to have these qualities. Learners need to be able to reflect on what they did, right or wrong, to adjust how they approach a task the following time. They need to be persistant and try as hard as possible to achieve success. Finally, a learner needs to have self-esteem and know they can do anything they put their mind to. Motivation is necessary to help push the learner to obtain as much knowledge as they can. Of course, achieving, extending, and using knowledge is required for the learner to perform any tasks such as classwork,homework or assessments. This is also important for their basic understanding of the content. Integrating or extending knowledge is important beacuase the learner needs to see how this knowledge relates to other fields. The learner needs to figure out how they learn best and adjust to their individual learning styles. They need to have relevant resources to learn from such as books, research articles, notes, or other individuals that provide insight to learning. Lastly, a learner needs to have respect for others learning with them as well as respect for the individual aiding their learning or else that learner loses all credibility with their resource for learning.

Respect for Others:

• Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development (I placed ZPD in this category because people need to be respectful of what others have to think and say in order for them to gain as much knowledge as possible)

• Diversity (I placed this under respect because everyone in the classroom needs to understand the differences amongst eachother and accept everyone for who they are so nothing stands in the way of learning.)

• Social Cognitive Learning Theory (I placed this under respect because this is the idea of learning by doing or learning by observing others. I feel as though there needs to be a respect for those around you in order for you to benefit the most from learning by observing or learning by doing what someone has showed you. Without this respect, learning by doing and observing wouldn't be as effective.)

• Standardized Testing and High-Stakes Exams (I placed this under respect for others because students can view percentiles, or ranks of where they stand by percentage in comparison to the rest of the class, Students need to respect the higher or lower performing students so this does not interfere with learning. Also, students need to respect what scores their peers receive on high-stakes tests as well for these may be used to hold schools, teachers, and adminstrators accountable for student progress.)

• Collaboration/Cooperation (I placed this under respect for others because in order to become a self-regulated learner one must reflect a climate of community and shared problem solving to ensure success. This collaboration and cooperation requires respect for others in order to make the most of your learning.)

• Grouping and Goal Structure (I placed this under respect for others because this involves cooperative, competitive, and individualistic structure for students to succeed. One must respect their peers in order to work effectively in a cooperative group activity, they must respect the competition that exists as a means to motivate, and they have to see the individuality in other's responses to learn as much as possible. Successful group work and learning requires a sense of respect of others in the group.

• Classroom Management (I placed this under respect for others because respect is required for students and teachers in order for a positive, productive learning environment to exist. A good balance of class participation, allocated time for tasks, and self-management is required for effective classroom management.

• Routines/Rules (I placed this under respect for others because the routines and rules are based upon the respect people have for eachother in the classroom. If everyone is respectful, then routines can occur for daily activities to be accomplished. Rules will be enforced and followed if everyone has a sense of respect for one another in the learning environment.

• Withitness/Overlapping/Group Focus/Movement Management (I placed these concepts under respect for others because these deal with classroom management keys that help everyone maintain a respectful environment. Teachers should be able to multi-task, know what is going on in the classroom, keep the lessons moving, and maintain a group focus for a respectful enviroment to occur.

• Violence/Bullying/Cyberbulling (As teachers it is crucial to let students know that any kind of violence or bullying is absolutely not tolerated so a respectful atmosphere can be maintained.

Providing Relevant Resources:

• Behavioral Learning Theories (I placed this under the resources category because it is the external events and resources that individuals use to learn based on behavioral theories.)

• Critical Thinking (I placed this under the resource category because many resources are involved in critical thinking. It takes time and several materials to achieve critical thinking of a particular idea or concept.)

• Assessment (I placed assessments under resources because it is a sample of observing student's skills, knowledge, and abilities through the use of various resources to test one's understanding of some common themes from a particular unit or chapter.)

• Authentic Assessment (I placed this under providing relevant resources because students are required to use resources in real life to apply skills they may need on a classroom assessment. These may include portfolios or exhibitions.)

• Informal Assessments (I placed this under providing resources because teachers gather resources from their students to make judgements on what they need to keep doing or what they need to change in their daily instruction. These resources are not graded and they are similar to formative assessments.)

• Problem-based learning / Authentic Tasks (I placed this under relevant resources because this is the art of providing students with real-life problems and situations that students will face outside of the classroom. If educators use problem-based learning, then students see a purpose for learning and success, and it is the resources we provide that help promote this kind of student motivation.)

• Planning/Action Zone (I placed planning under relevant resources because it is the outside resources teachers use and students use in their action zone for successful lessons and learning to take place.

• Communication/Counseling/Confrontation/Assertive Discipline (I placed this under providing relevant resources because as teachers, we need to provide excellent communication tou our students, counseling skills, and confrontation or discipline to our students if it is needed. The teacher has many roles in the classroom and these are just a few to name.

Adjust to Individual Learning Needs and Styles:

• Types of Thinking: Literal, Interpretive, and Creative (I placed types of thinking in this category because depending on how people think, as teachers, we can implement a lesson according to a fair representation of the majority of our students.)

• Brain Research (I placed brain research in this category because by studying the brain we can figure out the multiple ways people learn and adjust to them accordingly.)

• Differentiated Instruction (I placed this in adjusting to learning styles because changing your method of instruction to accomodate to all of the needs of the students in your classroom is important for obtaining a good education.)

• Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences (I placed this under knowledge because many individuals are better at one of the eight areas of intelligence where as their peers may be better in another area of intelligence.)

• Mainstreaming (I placed this under adjusting to learning styles because as teachers we need to include and integrate all kinds of students into the classroom, and some students need extra attention, which needs to be provided for educational success.)

• Behavior modification (This belongs under adjusting to learning needs because if an individual is making errors, then an intervention needs to occur with antecedents and consequences to fix the learning mistakes. If it's effective, the there was success with learning and if not, then the behavior may be modified again to fix the individual learning error(s).)

• Contingency Contracts (This fits under individual learning styles because each student receives a contract for a task they must do in order to earn a reward or receive a privledge. This will vary for each student's needs)

• Learning Strategies/Tactics (I placed this under adjusting to individual learning styles because everyone has a different plan of attack for learning, and once they figure out how they learn best, they can apply these specific techniques that make up their plan for learning)

• Norm/Criterion-Referenced Testing (I placed this under adjust to learning needs/styles because a teacher may have to adjust to their student's needs if they aren't understanding the specifics required for criterion-referenced testing and if a group is falling above or below the average for norm-referenced testing, then a teacher may have to adjust to her student's learning needs to help them achieve or maintain that acceptable mark.)

Achieve, Extend, and Use Knowledge:

• Quantitative and Qualitative Research (I placed research in the knowledge category because in order to do research we must have a base knowledge of the topic, use the knowledge to come up with something new, and extent the knowledge by discovering something that will be helpful to other teachers.)

• Triune Brain Theory (I placed brain theory in the knowledge category because the parts of the brain and the knowledge we acquire or comprehend go hand in hand)

• Piaget's Stages of Development (I placed stages of development in the knowledge category because depending on what age someone is they may have different ways of using, achieving, and extending knowledge.)

• Socially Constructed Meaning (I placed this in the knowledge category because we need to consider what other people's knowlege is to come to some universal meaning.)

• IQ (this would go under knowledge because it is a number stating what knowledge one has achieved and used to prove their intelligence)

• Learning (I placed learning in this category because knowledge is obtained through learning)

• Working Memory and Short-term Memory (This belongs in the achieving, using, and extending knowledge category because your short term, or temporary, knowledge combined with the knowledge in your long-term memory is needed to solve problems, which is what working memory is.)

• Long Term Memory (this belongs in the knowledge category because it is the knowledge you have learned well that is needed to perform formal operational tasks.)

• Chunking (I placed chunking in the knowledge categoy because if human beings know that they can memorize 5 plus or minus two bits of information at a time, then they can use this to their advantage when studying for an assessment to achieve the most knowledge as possible.)

• Solution Strategies (algorithms, heuristics, means-end analysis, working backwards, analogical thinking, and verbalization are all solution strategies where tasks are broken down perhaps into smaller tasks in order to arive at a solution. Knowledge may then be achieved, used, and extended.)

• Low/High-Road Trasnfer (This has to do with the automatic transfer of knowledge and the abrstract thinking required to apply one situation into another situation. This fits well into the achieve, use, and extend knowledge category.)

• Reliability and Validity (This is a way to judge whether or not an assessment is testing what it is supposed to be testing and if it is reliable on more than one occassion or reliable in more than one format. If a test is reliable and valid, then knowledge can be successfully judged on an assessment.)

• Epistemological Beliefs (I placed this under achieving, using, and extending knowledge because it is what student's believe about their knowledge and learning. This can directly effect motivation and the types of strategies people use to learn. This could also go under the motivation category as well.)

Self-esteem and Motivation:

• Intellectual Stamina: Attention Control, Power Thinking, Responsibility Framework, and Goal Setting: (I placed intellectual stamina in this category because someone can not pay attention, think, be responsible, or set goals unless they believe in themselves and have a passion or drive for what they are doing.

• Rhyming Pegword (I placed this in the self-esteem and motivation category because this strategy can be used for people who have low self-esteem about their learning skills. This memorization strategy is a fun way to show people that they can learn by associating a list of rhyming numbers with unusual, colorful, and moving objects they create.)

• Creativity (I placed this under self-esteem and motivation because producing original work that is still appropriate and useful takes a lot of motivation since it is not an easy task. One also has to have good self-esteem to be highly creative; they have to believe that they can do it!)

• Social Cognitive Theory/Social Learning Theory (I placed this under self-esteem and motivation because this theory involves thinking, believing, expecting, anticipating, self-regulating, and making comparisons and judgements to learn. All of these deal with motivation and self-esteem to some extent because you have to know that you can do it and you have to be pushed in the right direction to ensure optimal learning.)

• Triarchic Reciprocal Causality (I placed this under motivation and self-esteem because it deals with social influences, including modeling, instruction and feedback, achievement outcomes, including goal progress, motivation and learning, and self-influences, including goals, self-efficacy, outcome expectations, and self-evaluation. These three categories of personal, behavioral, and social/environmental use motivation and self-esteem to enhance learning.)

• Self-efficacy (I placed this mainly under the self-esteem category because it deals with our personal belief of our competence or effectiveness in a given area. If we believe we can't do something, we won't do it, but if we believe we can do something, we will do it. This directly deals with self-esteem, which is partially required to learn.)

• Intrinsic/Extrinsic Motivation (I placed this under motivation because it deals with the internal and external events that bring about motivation in one's self. Either one has a drive with-in themselves to succeed or some outside force, i.e. a teacher, a book, a peer, etc, causes someone to push themselves and succeed.)

• Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs (I placed this under self-esteem and motivation because these are the basic needs that people should have ranging from low to high needs, which are necessary for survival and self-fufillment. Self-esteem is required for self-actualization, or the realization of one's potential, which is a part of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.)

• Attribution Theories (I placed this under motivation and self-esteem because depending on one's self-esteem, or how an individual explains, justifies, and excuses themselves, motivation can be directly effected.)

• Learned Helplessness / Self-worth (These are placed under self-esteem because it is one's view about how well they can learn that causes many to succeed or fail. People who have learned helplessness may fail and they require more intrinsic/extrinsic motivation to succeed. Mastery-oriented, failure-avoiding, and failure-accepting students fall under the self-worth category, and depending on an individual's views of how they learn can make or break their achievement in school. Motivation is needed for success.

Persistence:

• Operant Conditioning (I placed this under persistence because in order for one to be rewarded, they have to work hard at a task and in order to avoid punishment, individuals have to have self-control and persistance to avoid doing something unwanted.)

• Classical Conditioning (I also placed this under persistence because whether the individual knows it or not, they are very persistant with a task for an undconditioned stimulus and response to become a condtioned stimulus and response. Persistance is required for a learned behavior.)

• Memory Flashing (I placed this under persistence because this is a strategy that takes time for it to be effective. For example, if you recreate a visual of detailed information you need to remember, you need to see if you can recreate it in an hour, then a day, next a week, and finally a month. If you have recreated your visual in a month perfectly, then your persistance caused you to learn the information so it was moved to your long-term memory.)

• Problem Solving (I placed this under persistence because this is the idea of going above and beyond the simple application of a problem and applying a new strategy or attack at the problem based on knowledge that was previously learned. This ensures understanding and takes time, hard work, and dedication, or persistance.)

• Volition (I placed this under persistence because it has to do with will-power or believing that you can do it and not giving up, which is similar to persistance.)

• Goal Orientation (I placed this under persistence because these are the patterns or beliefs about goals related to achievement in school. One needs to be persistant with their goals and not give them up to achieve high in school.)

Self-reflect on Learning:

• Assimilation and Accomodation (I placed this in self-reflection because individuals need to look at how they learn and adjust to see if they need to add another piece to the knowledge that already exists or start over and place new knowledge in a completely new category.)

• Self-Management (In order for one to learn they need to set goals, monitor and evaluate their progress, and self-reinforce, or control their own reinforcers. This is what self-management is, and this is why it fits perfectly into the self-reflect on learning category.)

• Mnemonics (I placed this under self-reflect on learning because if you know that it is harder for you to learn, then you can adjust your memory by using mnemonic devices to improve your memory.)

• Metacognition (I placed this under self-reflect on learning because it is thinking about thinking, or self-reflection, that inhibits new knowledge and causes learning to take place. Three skills of metacognition are planning, monitoring, and reflection, which is why this fits nicely into this category.

• Formative/Summative Assessment (I placed these under self-reflect on learning because formative assessment is used to adjust or fix any incorrect teaching methods or student misunderstandings and summative assessment is used to show a level of accomplishment based on looking back on what one has learned and comprehended.)

• Self-regulated Learning (I placed this under self-reflect on learning because one must be aware of what they need to learn by setting goals and using resources to reach their goals. One can do this by analyzing the learning task, then devising a plan, using strategies to accomplish the task at hand, and regulate their learning, or reflect on their learning to decide what goals need to be changed or modified to make the learning process better. Zimmerman believes that self-regulated learning requires forethought, performance, and reflection, which is why I placed this under the self-reflect on learning category.)

• Cognitive Behavior Modification (I placed this under self-reflect on learning because it deals with self-talk to regulate behavior. Self-management uses reinforcement and punishment to manage behavior and based on your performance, one can reflect on what they can do differently to learn more the next time around.)

• Emotions, Curiosity, Interests, and Anxiety (I placed this under self-reflect on learning because depending on the individual and their specific emotions, curiosity, interests, and anxiety, they can look at how these may have affected their learning and adjust their learning to their specific needs so these do not interfere as much with their success.)